We are pleased to inform you that the nonfiction film Flying Bodies has won the Grand Prize of the 1st Kodomo International Film Festival in Okinawa <KIFFO>, which was held from 22 to 24 November at the auditorium of the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum. The film was selected by a jury panel consisting only of children.

The aim of our festival was to help children during their most perceptive years learn about the world through cinema as well as through the experience of participating in the festival as staff and jury members. During the festival’s main programme on 23 and 24 November, the child staff from the third grade to high school students ran the festival as receptionists, coordinators, MCs, decorators, guides and technicians. The three-day festival, including the pre-festival event on the 22nd, was attended by approximately 700 people.

On the 24th, the final day of the festival, a jury panel consisting of 10 children between the third and seventh grades (one of whom was absent due to a club activity) discussed the films and selected for the festival’s first Grand Prize Flying Bodies by Hiroyuki Nakano, a nonfiction film which follows the lives of male rhythmic gymnasts at Aomori University. The head juror Yuma Taira (a fifth-grade student) gave Nakano a KIFFO Grand Prize trophy made of Ryukyu glass.

The following is an excerpt from comments by the head juror Yuma Taira:

[...] The jury process was hard, but we didn’t rely on a majority vote. Our opinions had been so divided at first, since we had to choose from such diverse genres as ‘documentary’, ‘sports’, and ‘romance’. Flying Bodies was eventually selected after receiving comments such as ‘Among the three, this is the only film that gave me something to look up for’ and ‘While children in the other two films were under the direction of the adult filmmakers, this film captured the real life of male rhythmic gymnasts.’ We had initially decided to have three rounds of discussions, but our discussion ran over to six rounds. We would like to thank Mr Nakano from the bottom of our hearts for making such a wonderful film. We hope you’ll keep on making good films.

The head juror’s remarks were followed by comments from each jury member.

 Hiroyuki Nakano responded to their comments as follows:

"I will remember KIFFO for the rest of my life. As the head of the jury explained why they had chosen Flying Bodies, I was able to sense that the children understood exactly what I wanted to tell in my film, and that almost brought me to tears. Whatever the trouble, I will work hard and keep on making good films, I vowed in tears in the taxi to the airport. Thank you, all the staff and other children who saw the film."